caused me to stop.
Whenever the Poker came to the Undercage it turned on the lights. The Monsters must have needed light to see but thanks to the Standing Ones, I didn’t. Problems seemed to happen more often when the sun hid itself. I’d always had the ability myself and given our mission took us outside the light of the sun, the others in my crew received it as well.
I crept into the darker hallway and let the door close just as silently as it opened behind me. Instead of rods in the ceiling providing the light, in this hallway, the dim lights flickered from transparent cubes hanging along the sides. These were spaced equally above the doorways that lined the hall. The lights appeared to be flames, but they gave off no heat or smoke.
Small tables stood in between the doorways. The nearest one held a clay bowl with a flower growing out of it. No, not growing, it wasn’t real. It had no scent, at least no recognizable one, nothing natural. Even lower plants like simple flowers communicated their pheromones to the air. I’d have easily detected that from far away. Why would monsters decorate their ship with fake flowers? Yet another question to worry about once I escaped.
Beyond the low light, this hallway came with another benefit. The monsters had covered the hard flooring with something soft, plush like a bed of fallen leaves in the autumn. It muffled the noise of my movements.
Before moving away from the small table with its fake flower, I extended my senses and explored these new surroundings. It took me a few seconds to realize why, but the sound seemed off initially. It was too quiet, the constant buzz I’d been hearing since waking in the Undercage had disappeared. The monsters must have dampened the sound in this hallway.
Few other sounds came to me, none from beyond the doors. They must have dampened them as well. The only sound to concern me came from the far end of the hallway. A monster’s hooves plodded on the floor, its soft covering absorbing most of the noise. They got quieter with each step. I smelled the monster faintly along with the ever-present scents of death and another scent, almost floral.
I saw it in the distance. Like the monster I zapped with the Poker’s Lightning Stick, this one wore its hair long and tied into a tail at the back of its head. It had a silver hide and its trunk curved in on the sides like the last one. I again wondered why, but the Lightning Stick in its paw drew me into action.
While it still had its back to me, I scurried to the nearest door, pressing against it. The buzzing returned through the door’s vibration, but no other sounds came. The door slid into the wall once I pressed the button to its side. The tang of a monster enveloped my sense of smell, causing me to tense.
The monster in the small chamber laid unmoving, sprawled out on a low platform built into the wall. Like the wheeled table near where I encountered the Artist, a thin covering draped over it, wrapped tightly over its bulging middle. It’s breathing came slowly, snorting each time it inhaled. It was asleep.
Darkness descended when the door to the hallway silently closed behind me. I’d be safe from the guard here. But why did they need a guard to watch them while they slept? What did monsters do in their sleep? Maybe I wasn’t safe here.
I examined the sleeping monster. With its eyes closed and the relaxation of sleep softening its features, it didn’t seem as monstrous as the others. The gurgling snort with each of its breaths turned my insides in disgust but it was the only really monstrous quality about it, at least in its sleep.
It jerked in its slumber and I pulled away, freezing, ready to pounce with the Poker’s Lightning Stick. Did monsters dream? Was the guard a Dream Keeper? They talked and had the intelligence to build ships to explore the darkness. Why wouldn’t they dream too? What else had I been wrong about concerning them?
The covering over the monster shifted when it jerked, exposing one of its hooves. No, I was wrong about that too. Instead of the long and shiny black hooves all the other monsters had at the end of their legs, this one’s matched the skin tone of its face and paws. The bottom looked like skin instead of a hardened hoof and it ended in five little stubby appendages just like its paws. The monsters covered their feet like they did their bodies in sleep.
As misunderstandings went, this was hardly an important one, but with everything else I’d learned about these monsters, it made me pause. I thought of them as monsters because they appeared and acted so different from any of my people. They were animals, monsters like from the tales but they didn’t act like monsters.
Yes, they did. This entire ship smelled of death and decay, at least in the background. They killed and ate other animals. They killed my crew after torturing them. Those were all monstrous acts yet they seemed capable of so much more.
These were questions to leave for later after I escaped. I pushed them to the back of my mind and pressed against the door, feeling for the vibration of the Dream Keeper’s steps. They grew in intensity as the monster neared before lowering when it moved away.
The door slid open and I crept back into the hallway, silently following behind the Dream Keeper. Oblivious to my presence, it marched along, the tail of dark hair at the back of its head waving back and forth when it looked from side to side.
What was it looking for? The monster in the last room seemed sedate in its sleep but could that change? Did monsters dream about such horrors that they needed the Dream Keeper to protect them from the other monsters or themselves? If so, I hoped to avoid it.
Nearing the halfway point of the hall, I slowed to a stop. It was time to find another room to hide in and let the Dream Walker pass the other way. I pressed against the closest door, listening for sounds from within. The voice of a monster vibrated the door slightly, the gurgling wet quality of its voice thankfully didn’t travel through it. I moved across the hall as quickly as possible when its hooves, no feet, thumped against the floor, vibrating the door even more. The monster behind it must have been leaving its sleep chamber, maybe in a dangerous dream?
With no other option, I opened the door to the chamber on the other side without even listening first. I ignored the smells of the two monsters along with the acrid cloud of their sweat and slipped into the dark room silently, closing the door behind me.
The monsters laid on the platform together but instead of unmoving in their sleep like the last one, these two writhed under the covering. Were they wrestling? Their breaths came in pants and a high-pitched grunt sounded from one of them. Was this why they needed the Dream Keeper?
One of them rose to its shoulders, and the covering dropped to its waist. Instead of the silver hide of the Poker or the white hide of the Artist, this monster’s hide matched the skin of its face and arms. The others’ hides were coverings the same as their feet. Why would they need to wear covers? What else had I misunderstood about these monsters?
The pinned monster cried out in a deep bark and the one on top turned and stared at me, its bulging eyes widening. It fell down to the spongy platform they laid on, holding the covering over its body. Both of them shook and panted while they stared, their pungent fear filling the room.
The Poker had stank of fear when I trapped and choked it into unconsciousness. It had good reason to fear me. Even a monster fears its own death. The monster I shocked with the Poker’s Lightning Stick had good reason to fear me too. I did shock it, after all. I moved my weapon behind me before these monsters noticed me, but even though I was outnumbered, they were paralyzed with fear. They were monsters. Why would monsters fear me like that?
The door to the chamber opened, robbing me of a chance to ponder that question and forcing me into action. The Dream Keeper stood on the other side, its Lightning Stick crackling in its slender paw. It lunged, aiming the weapon toward me.
I bent out of its way, the crackling lighting buzzing inches from me. My own Lightning Stick whipped toward the monster. It leaped back into the hallway, then immediately lurched forward, aiming its weapon at mine. I backed deeper into the monster couple’s chamber to avoid it but bumped into the far wall.
Trapped, my fear bloomed, and I readied for another strike by shifting the Lightning Stick and another stalk behind me. The Dream Keeper sneered and gurgled what I assumed was an insult in their brutal language. It rushed forward, holding the crackling stick in front of it.
I whipped out an empty stalk, aiming low toward its legs. Seeing my attack, it stabbed at my stalk with its weapon. I flicked the empty stalk away from its attack. At the same moment, my Lightning Stick slammed into its shoulder.
Bellowing in pain, it shook before dropping to the soft floor with a dull thud. Its shoulder twitched but it otherwise remained unmoving. One of the monsters in the bed cried out and they shifted to get as far away from me as possible. Their acrid fear overcame my panic and the exhilaration that filled me at defeating the Dream Keeper, pushing them from the room.